The Results Don’t Lie: Mattern & Associates Cost Recovery Survey 2016

The Results Don’t Lie: Mattern & Associates Cost Recovery Survey 2016

Posted in: The American Lawyer

By Rob Mattern

2017 has arrived with a bang: expenses are back on the rise and demand growth is trending negative. Last year in the March issue of this publication, we hypothesized what the results of the 2016 Mattern & Associates Cost Recovery Survey would reveal (see, “ Cost Recovery in 2016.”)

What areas of recovery remain strong and successful? What areas are dying out? In a highly cost-sensitive environment, would firms be trending to let go of the recovery of expenses altogether?

With the results tabulated, let’s see how accurate our predictions were as well as analyze the results.

Black & White Copies: Some Right, Some Wrong

Overall, 92% of firms are still recovering black & white copies with an average rate of $.18. We predicted the percentage of firms still charging would remain constant to 2014 at 98%; however, we did not anticipate the increase in the average rate to $.18 from the 2014 rate of $.16. The effect, whether direct or not, was a 6% decrease in the billable percentage to 61% and a 14% decrease in the average percent of billable actually billed resulting in a net realization of 36% — the lowest it has ever been since the we started the survey in 2004.
Read the full article: The American Lawyer: The Results Don’t Lie: Mattern & Associates Cost Recovery Survey 2016

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